Book giveaway recalls late Vallejo principal, Diane Clark

But if you give kids at Lincoln Elementary School a book, they're going to want to read it.

"He's being silly, jumping off the bed in his underwear!" said kindergartner Keith Ford, 5, on Tuesday about the eponymous mouse in his new copy of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

The book came courtesy of Read4Em, a nonprofit organization established in 2009 to give books to every child at Lincoln in honor of former Principal Diane Clark.

Clark, 54, succumbed to breast cancer in 2008. Tuesday would have been her 60th birthday. Clark was well known of her love of reading.

This year's event marks a particular poignant one for Read4Em.

"This will have been the last year the kids actually knew (Clark)," said Clark's daughter, Kathryn Clark-Silveira.

This year's fifth-graders, who will go on to middle school next year, were kindergartners when Clark was still at the school.

Read4Em spends the year collecting books and cash donations, this year giving a book away to 220 Lincoln students.

Kindergartner Kylan McNeal, 6, said he thought his copy of "Jelly Beans for Sale" was fun, and that he likes reading.

"I love school because I love learning," Kylan said.

Donations to the program are welcome, especially cash and books for fourth- and fifth-graders, said Chris Goetz, Clark's nephew. More information can be found at www.read4em.com, while books can be sent directly to Lincoln and marked for the Read4Em program at 620 Carolina St.